Google Assistant lands on tablet, Android Lollipop 5.0 phones

Google Assistant, the Pixel maker's AI powered voice-assistant was first launched in 2016, and was exclusively available on Pixel phones. However, earlier this year, the support rolled out for all smartphones running Android Marshmallow or later.

Now Google is rolling out Assistant for smartphones running Android 5.0 Lollipop. The support will roll out to users with the language set to English in the US, UK, India, Australia, Canada and Singapore, as well as in Spanish in the US, Mexico and Spain. It’s also rolling out to users in Italy, Japan, Germany, Brazil and Korea.

It looks like Google wants more users to use it voice assistant. If you've been following the Android Distribution stats, the latest report reveals that Lollipop is running on 26.3 percent of active devices out there, and is the second widely used Android mobile operating system. This is likely to be the reason for Google to extend Assistant support to Lollipop.

In addition Assistant will also support tablets as well, given that it runs Android Marshmallow or later version. It will be rolling out over the coming week to users with the language set to English in the U.S.

The Google Assistant is a beefed up version of 'OK Google' voice search/command. You can give voice commands to Assistant to set reminders, perform web search, ask for news or weather updates, control smart home products and more. To bring up Google Assistant, you can either long press the home button or say 'Ok Google' and give the voice commands.

Apart from smartphones and tablets, Google assistant is also available on Android Wear 2.0 watches, Google Allo Chat app and smart speakers. 

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